Golden Knights Should Target Young Top-6 Winger Via Trade

Between Mitch Marner hitting Free Agency and several high-profile players in trade rumors, it’s shaping up to be a summer unlike any we’ve ever seen. However, the Vegas Golden Knights have very few assets and limited salary cap space. That means that the likes of Jason Robertson or Elias Pettersson are probably out of the question.

Gone are the days when the Golden Knights were in on every trade rumor. It isn’t 2019 anymore; they don’t have the draft capital or the prospects required to swing a Mark Stone trade. Heck, it isn’t even 2023– they won’t be swooping up Noah Hanifin and Tomáš Hertl with a seemingly infinite amount of first-round draft picks.

That doesn’t mean they can’t improve their roster through trades– it just means they’ll have to aim lower and get creative. And that means taking a swing at a few reclamation projects and hoping they turn out better than Alexander Holtz did.

One player who might catch Kelly McCrimmon’s eye is Matias Maccelli from the Utah Mammoth– formerly known as the Utah Hockey Club. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Maccelli is starting to pick up steam as a potential trade candidate.

Maccelli is just 24 and on the final season of a three-year, $3.425 million contract. He’ll be a Restricted Free Agent in 2026. He’s not the fastest, but he’s certainly not what I would call slow.

The Finish winger’s career got off to a good start. In his first full NHL season, he scored 11 goals and racked up 49 points in 64 games. During the 2023-24 season, he scored 17 goals and recorded 57 points in 82 games.

So, why would the Mammoth have any interest in trading a player with so much upside? Well, after two strong seasons, he took a step back. Last year, he bounced in and out of the lineup, struggled to cement himself as a roster player, and finished the season in the press box as a healthy scratch. 

Admittedly, I have no idea what Maccelli’s value might be. Just because he struggled last season doesn’t mean that the Mammoth would be willing to part for him for peanuts and a bag of pucks. They might– but there’s no way of knowing that.

Depending on what the Mammoth would want in return, the Golden Knights might be able to swing a trade. Maybe they’d want Zach Whitecloud to replace Robert Bortuzzo on their third pairing. Maybe they’d want a bottom-six center with upside like Nic Roy. The Mammoth’s depth on the wing isn’t much to write home about– would Ivan Barbashev strike their fancy?

I do think that the Mammoth would be foolish to give up on Maccelli so soon, but perhaps their loss could be the Golden Knights’ gain. He’s a good young player who needs a change of scenery and a new lease on life.

And the Golden Knights need all the youth they can get. 

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